SHANE VAN GISBERGEN SPRINTCAR BOUND

By Thomas Miles (Auto Action)

Shane Van Gisbergen will return to New Zealand and race at three different speedways on home soil this summer.

After his first year racing NASCAR full time in America, van Gisbergen will take part in seven Sprintcar events across the 2024/25 season.

Once again he drive the #97 Inited Truck Parts machine run by Annette and Brian Theobald.

It all starts at Western Springs Speedway, which will be hosting racing for the final time this season.

SVG will start his home speedway tour with two races at Western Springs, the first on December 14 and the second on Boxing Day.

He will then head to Baypark for a doubleheader on December 28 and 30 to round out 2024.

On new year’s day Van Gisbergen will go racing at Waikaraka Park, which kicks off a busy period.

One day later the #97 will appear at Western Springs and will conclude the schedule at the same location where it started on January 4.

“Gutted to hear the news a few days ago about Western Springs closing at the end of this season so I’m happy to be able to run a few shows while home in NZ over summer,” Van Gisbergen wrote on social media.

“I’ll be driving Annette and Brian Theobald’s United Truck Parts #97 Sprintcar and we’ll have some cool merch at the races thanks to Lockeddownbrand. Looking forward to it.”

Van Gisbergen loves racing and is no stranger to the New Zealand speedway scene having dovetailed his Supercars commitments with the odd speedway meeting when he was still in Australia.

But even after a massive year where van Gisbergen would have raced more than 40 NASCAR races, he is still returning home for more racing.

SVG is approaching the finish line of his rookie campaign with the final round of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series taking place this weekend at Phoenix.

The Kiwi currently sits 12th after taking three wins, while he has also taken part in 12 Cup Series races having scored a best oval result last time out at Martinsville.